THE STORY: With the Mavericks officially eliminated from playoff contention last night (the Blazers beating the Suns accomplished that), they head into the last seven games (and the draft lottery) with some time to evaluate some of the end of the bench players who haven’t gotten much playing time this season — as well as seven chances to possibly improve their draft positioning. I would expect that these games start looking a lot like preseason as the season winds down, with the starters and vets being pulled earlier in favor of guys like Nicolas Brussino and Jarrod Uthoff getting some extended burn.